During the Indiana State School Music Association Scholastic Prelims Saturday at Homestead High School, members of the Warsaw Community High School Marching Band could feel how good they were doing. That feeling continues as the band prepares for state finals Oct. 25 at Lawrence Central High School in Indianapolis. “We had a really strong performance last week. The week prior we were not as strong, so it was neat to see all of our improvement in a week. I went in with the confidence that we would qualify for state finals. Our show was sounding good all week. With the last chord, I could tell it would be a gold-rating show,” said junior flutist Lindsey Wolfe. “I thought it was definitely better than the week before so that felt really good,” said sophomore saxophone player Riley Bloemendaal. “Afterward, I couldn’t stop smiling. It was not just that I felt good as an individual, but as a whole band it felt good.” The WCHS Tiger’s Pride Marching Band members are riding that excitement until state finals Oct. 25, but aren’t resting on their laurels. “I’m excited. I’m real excited,” said Wolfe. “Last year we didn’t place at state finals very high, but this year we will. There’s a lot of good bands out there, but we will be able to compete against them.” Bloemendaal said, “I’m really excited. We have a lot of work to do before then, but I think we can place really high this year. Going to state finals two years in a row, as a freshman and now as a sophomore, is really exciting.” Band director Mickey Ratliff said ISSMA changed its classification system last year. Bands like Warsaw can enter into the Scholastic Class, and this is the second year it has done so. For Scholastic Class, the state tournament is different than it used to be, he said. Prelims are held at three sites: one in the north, one in central Indiana and one in the south. Scholastic bands can enter the large or small class, and Warsaw is in the large class. Ratliff said there were 14 bands competing at the Homestead site, with maybe 10 more bands at the other two locations. Twenty bands made it to state finals, and this is Warsaw’s second year to make it under the new classification system. “You have to earn a gold rating, which means you scored a 60 or higher. ISSMA doesn’t want you to publicize scores, just the rating. We also earned ‘With Distinction’ in music and general effect. That means in those captions you earned more than a certain amount (of points),” he said. The music category grades the quality and performance of the music, and general effect has to do with the aesthetic appeal of the show, he explained. “It was by far the kids’ best performance all season. A few minor things weren’t quite there yet, but overall it was a strong performance,” Ratliff said. Visually, he said a lot of things are looking better than they did before. “We had a good week of rehearsals the week before (prelims) and it all clicked at the end as it should have,” he continued. Before state finals Ratliff said they will continue rehearsals. They also will perform at this week’s home football game and at football sectionals next week. “We’ve got short-range goals to shoot for before finals,” he said. “We’re at the stage where we’re just hammering away at the details and fine-tuning everything we can. We want to go from good or very good to excellent.” Warsaw will perform at 9:11 p.m. Oct. 25 at state finals. They are the next-to-last band to perform. “I feel like we’ve had a really great season so far,” Ratliff said. “It’s a great group of kids. We’re starting to perform really well, and we’re getting to that level where we can perform it and make it exciting every single time.” The show theme this year is “Saturn Returns.” The Tigers’ Marching Band show includes three pieces. The first is called “Saturn Returns,” written and composed by Michael Markowski. The WCHS band got their theme for this season from Markowski’s idea for his music. The second piece is called “Gabriel’s Oboe,” composed by Ennio Morricone. It’s from the soundtrack to the film “The Mission.” The third piece of music for the show also is by Markowski and is titled “Instinctive Travels.” Rehearsals started in June. “One of the first things we tell them is everything you do, do the best that you can. The next time, make it better. Just keep doing that. I feel we’ve dedicated ourselves to that idea and we’re seeing the fruits of our labor. It’s really starting to come together,” Ratliff said.
